Book support



,1511, 13,1970' l i H,A,SCHNARR 3,489,292`

Fiied Aug. a, 1967 y 2. sheets-sheet 2 'i5-Jah se @JWM Arrow/Ene.

United States Patent O 3,489,292 BOOK SUPPORT Howard A. Schnarr, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Massey-Ferguson Industries Limited, Toronto, Ontario, Canada i Filed Aug. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 659,08

Int. Cl. A47f 5 01 U.S. Cl. 211--184 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A book support of the type which is suspended above a shelf of books. A book engaging member depends from a support bar having oppositely directed arm portions with guide members on their ends engageable with grooves above the shelf. An offset portion on the Lsupport arm carries a friction member which engages the` surface between the grooves in response to book pressure on the book engaging member to frictionally lock the book support in position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates to book supports of the type which are slideably mounted above a shelf on -`which books are supported. As books are added or removed from the shelf, the position of the book support can be adjusted accordingly.

Description of the prior art Prior art slideable book supports include those made up of material that must be resiliently deformed in order to install or remove the book support from supporting grooves. v

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, a book support is made up of a relatively rigid support'bar having oppositely directed arm portions extending transversely of the shelving when installed, and a central offset portion with a friction member mounted in the offset portion. A book engaging portion depends from the support bar for engagement with books on the shelf beneath the support bar. Guide members, preferably of nylon or similar plastic material, are mounted on the ends of eachof the arm portions of the support bar for slideable engagement with the grooves formed beneath the shelving along the edge thereof. Consequently, the book pressure on the lower edge of the book engaging portion causes the friction member to engage the underneath side of the upper shelf on which the support arm is mounted to prevent sliding movement of the guides and support the books. However, slight pressure adjacent the support bar permits sliding adjustment of the position of the book support. The book support is removed and installed in the grooves merely by lifting and rotating the support bar to disengage the guide members from the grooves.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. l is an end view of a pair of vertically spaced shelves with a book support embodying the invention mounted thereon;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are side views of the book support with the shelving shown in section showing the locked and unlocked position of the book support;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the book support of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTIONOF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawings, reference numeral designates generally a book engaging portion in the form of a U-shaped ICC member having upright legs 12 joined together at their lower ends by a horizontal book engaging portion 14. The upper ends of legs 12 are secured at spaced points to a support bar designated generally by reference numeral 16 and including a pair of straight arm portions 18 projecting in opposite directions from a central offset portion 20.

Mounted in the offset portion 20 is a friction member 22 which may be of rubber or similar material. Guide members 24 are mounted on the ends of each of the arm portions 18. Rivets 26, or similar fasteners, secure guide members 24 to arms 18. As shown in FIG. 4, the guide members 24 are formed with grooves 27 for receiving the straight arm portions 18 so as to provide a substantially continuous surface across the upper edge of the guide members and support bar. Grooves 27 are formed on opposite sides of each guide member 24 so that the guide members can be attached in either groove to the support bar. The guide members are preferably of low friction plastic material.

With reference particularly to FIG. l, the book support is mounted beneath the upper shelf of a pair of vertically spaced shelves 28 each having U-shaped grooves 30 formed along their edges on their underneath sides. Grooves 30 are formed by end portions 32 depending from the edges of the shelves, inwardly extending bottom portions 34, and upwardly extending, short inner legs 36. The guide members 24 may be inserted or removed from grooves 30 by raising the book support and rotating it generally about a vertical axis until the guide members pass between the upper edge of the short legs 36 in the underside of the shelf.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the book engaging portion 10 is inclined from the support bar 16 such that it projects downwardly and toward the books to be engaged thereby, and the offset portion 20 of support bar 16 projects in the opposite direction from the inclination of the book engaging portion. As shown in FIG. 3, the books B engage the book engaging portion 10 only at the lower end defined by portion 14. The pressure of the book as shown in FIG. 3 causes the fritcion member 22 to engage the underside of the shelf and frictionally lock the book support in position. To adjust the position of the book support along the grooves 30, slight counterclockwise pressure from the position of FIG. 3, disengages the .friction member 22 and permits the guide members 24 to slide along the grooves.

While a specific form of the invention has been illustrated and described in the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the exact construction shown, but that alternatives and modifications in the construction and arrangement of parts is possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A suspension type, slideable book support comprising a support bar having a central, offset portion and a pair of oppositely directed arm portions, a guide member on each of said arm portions for slideable engagement with spaced grooves formed underneath the upper shelf of a pair of vertically spaced book shelves, a book engaging member depending from said support bar for engaging books supported on the lower shelf of said pair of shelves, said offset portion projecting from said support bar on the opposite side of the books to be engaged by said book engaging portion, and a friction member on said offset portion normally disengaged from the underside of the upper shelf to permit free sliding of the guide members in the grooves to adjust the book support relative to the shelf, said friction member being engageable with the underside of the upper shelf in response to pivoting of the book support on the guide members caused by book 3 4 pressure on the book engaging member to prevent sliding 3,120,894 2/ 1964 Conley 211-43 movement of the guide members in the grooves. 3,202,298 8/ 1965 Koreska 211-184 2. A book support as claimed in claim 1 wherein said guide members depend from the ends of said arm portions FOREIGN PATENTS for engagement with the grooves. 394 537 11/1965 -t 1 d 3. A book support as claimed in claim 1 wherein said 5 SW1 zer an book engaging portion is inclined downwardly and toward ROY D. FRAZIER, primary Examiner the books from the support bar so that the books engage the lower end thereof R. D. KRAUS, Assistant Examiner References Cited lo 211 43 U's' C1' X'R UNITED STATES PATENTS 560,851 5/1896 Hine 21k-43 

